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Loveland hosts robotics technology workshop

By Jessica Maher Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
04/24/2013 03:50:03 PM MDT

If you'd be surprised to know that Loveland has a dozen businesses focusing on robotics, unmanned systems and automated systems, or that Colorado is quickly becoming a growing leader in those industries, you're not the only one.

Industry leaders agreed Wednesday during a symposium held at Loveland's Rocky Mountain Center for Innovation and Technology that they don't always know about each other or what kinds of opportunities they can offer each other.

"We have all these jewels of amazing things going on here in Colorado that nobody knows about," said Stan VanderWerf, who is the president of Advanced Capitol LLC in Colorado Springs.

The purpose of the half-day workshop was to bring industry, trade and higher education groups together to showcase their capabilities and accomplishments. Of about 40 people in attendance, Loveland companies were represented alongside those from around the state and as far away as Texas.

It led to much business card exchanging on the floor of the former Agilent Technologies campus, but that was the goal.

"There's new business that these companies can go after, but there's also the opportunity to partner up with another company," said David Lung, director of the city's Technology Transfer Program.

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The companies showcased represented the vast universe that the robotics industry has become. Even in Loveland, companies range from five employees to 50 and have hands in air defense, 3-D mapping, automated systems, unmanned railroad vehicles, large-scale industrial robots and more.

As the founder of a year-old company like Loveland's B&E Engineering, Forrest Blackburn welcomed the opportunity to network with other companies.

"We're really interested in new applications for automated equipment," he said.

Blackburn's company spun out of Special Applications Technology, a Loveland company which, just last week, laid off most of its employees and announced it would be shutting down operations.

Lung said that the closure of the company, which created robotic arms and had its first job helping decommission the Fort St. Vrain nuclear power plant near Platteville, is in no way indicative of the climate for robotics companies in the city. He estimated that the city has 10 to 15 companies that focus on unmanned systems, intelligent systems technology or robotics, with about 30-40 overall tech-related companies.

"S.A. Technology had a very specific type of customer and those businesses have basically wound down," Lung said. "It was difficult for them to find a new type of business -- they tried."

Following a NASA technology showcase last fall, Wednesday's event marked the first in a series of smaller workshops for tech businesses at the RMCIT. Lung hopes to host three to four a year, with the next in June to focus on financing solutions for small tech businesses. He sees the workshops as having multiple benefits, one of which is to drum up interest in the vacant RMCIT building itself.

"I'm doing it to try to create opportunities for our Loveland companies to grow, but also to start using this building, and to use it for its namesake," Lung said. "We want to showcase Loveland."

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